Subterranean treatment fluids are commonly used in stimulation, sand control, and completion operations. As used herein, the term “treatment,” or “treating,” refers to any subterranean operation that uses a fluid in conjunction with a desired function and/or for a desired purpose. The term “treatment,” or “treating,” does not imply any particular action by the fluid.
An example of a subterranean treatment that often uses an aqueous treatment fluid is hydraulic fracturing. In an example hydraulic fracturing treatment, a viscous fracturing fluid is introduced into the formation at a high enough rate to exert sufficient pressure on the formation to create and/or extend fractures therein. The viscous fracturing fluid may suspend proppant particles that are to be placed in the fractures to prevent the fractures from fully closing when hydraulic pressure is released, thereby forming conductive channels within the formation through which hydrocarbons can flow toward the well bore for production. In certain circumstances, variations in the subterranean formation will cause the fracturing fluid to create and/or extend fractures non-uniformly. Typically, one or more dominant fractures may extend more rapidly than non-dominant fractures. These dominant fractures utilize significantly more fracturing fluid than non-dominant fractures, thereby reducing pressure on non-dominant fractures and slowing or stopping their extension. Operators have addressed the unbalanced distribution of fracture fluid by introducing a certain quantity of diverters into the fracturing fluid when dominant fractures are identified. The diverters may travel to the dominant fractures and restrict the flow of fracturing fluid to the dominant fractures or plug the dominant fractures. These diverter operations may typically be alternated with proppant fracturing operations to achieve maximum subterranean stimulation.
Multiple high-pressure pumps may introduce these subterranean treatment fluids into the wellbore at pressures sufficient to achieve the desired operations. As many as twenty or more of these pumps may be linked to one another through a common manifold to combine the output of the pumps. However, the abrasive nature of treatment fluids, particularly when combined with solid particulate, tends to wear out the internal components of these high-pressure pumps as well as any associated valves and piping systems. Use of larger particulate, such as diverters, can worsen these harmful effects. Moreover, diverters are specifically chosen and designed to create plugs and bridges inside a subterranean formation. The same desirable plugging characteristics of the compositions and materials used as diverters make them particularly likely to plug and block off small flow paths in high-pressure pumps and associated equipment.
At a particular job location, operators may use blenders to add the particulate components to treatment fluids to form a slurry. To minimize high-pressure pump exposure to diverter, traditional hydraulic fracturing operations use separate blenders and high-pressure pumps for the diverter and proppant streams. Each stream may then feed to a common manifold before pumping into the well. This approach requires extra sets of expensive equipment and increases the space and time required for equipment staging at a particular well site.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.